Ela Bhatt is an Indian social activist and cooperative leader who founded the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in 1972. SEWA works to empower low-income women workers by helping them organize and providing services like microfinance. Bhatt recognized that women workers in India's informal economy needed to unite to improve their pay and working conditions. She pioneered the idea that even poor and uneducated people can solve their own problems through cooperation. Bhatt has received many national and international awards for her work fighting for the rights of India's vulnerable workers and empowering women.